Page:MU KPB 016 Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures.pdf/36

in the village, where, although that wonderful fellow the blacksmith might at first sight seem, like Habakkuk, capable of anything—such marvels issue from his forge—yet Sam the cobbler measures you for your shoes, and old Eppett mends the gates, and Blind Harry weaves the baskets. No, the Demiurge cannot possibly find time for it all. He must employ hosts of small unseen workmen. As Mr. Thorley says of these same buttercups—

There must be fairy miners—

See them going to their work, in No. 3.

There must be fairy miners
 Just underneath the mould,
Such wondrous quaint designers,
 Who live in caves of gold.

They take the shining metals,
 And beat them into shreds;
And mould them into petals
 To make the flowers’ heads . . .

And still a tiny fan turns
 Above a forge of gold—

28